


Behind her smiling eyes

by miraculousagentsofkrypton



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Danvers Sisters, Gen, Kara has so much going on beneath the surface, Karadox if you squint, Light Angst, Star Wars - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousagentsofkrypton/pseuds/miraculousagentsofkrypton
Summary: The Danvers sisters finally get Brainy to watch Star Wars with them.





	Behind her smiling eyes

“This Star Wars Series, you have all told me that it is a necessary movie to see?” Brainy stated curiously, sitting down on Kara’s couch.

She lit up, “Yes! It’s a classic, and you’re going to love C-3PO for sure.”

Alex snorted from the kitchen as she prepared snacks.

“You find that funny. Who is this C-3PO?” Brainy asked, unsure if he was being made fun of, an all too familiar experience.

Kara was quick to reassure him, “Oh, he’s this android in the movies. He’s my favorite, don’t worry.” She smiled widely at him, her eyes warm and affectionate, before turning and grabbing the popcorn from Alex, “Don’t forget the ice cream. The cookies and cream is mine, no snitching.”

Alex grinned mischievously, “Oh, that’s too bad, I’ll just have to live with the triple chocolate ice cream I brought. It has brownie chunks and fudge swirl in it, such a shame.”

Kara gaped at her sister, and started grumbling as she returned to the couch next to Brainy, but when she turned and handed him the bowl, she had a smile on her face, “Here. You can’t have a movie night without popcorn.”

His heart softened at the comfortable relationship the sisters had.

“Ok! Let’s get this party started,” Alex exclaimed, plopping down on the couch on Kara’s other side after handing them their respective ice creams. She cuddled in next to Kara as she pressed play excitedly. Glancing over at him, Kara gently wrapped her arm around his shoulders, including him in the cuddles. He felt ready to burst from the amount of love he felt from both the sisters. This felt more like home than at any of the time he was with the Legion.

Kara’s continued excitement from the moment the movie night had been brought up had expanded his own anticipation of this apparent cinematic masterpiece. The long scrolling text was a surprise, but he read it, intrigued. He had seen other movies before, and none of them had started like that. He was so invested in the movie that it took him a few minutes to notice how tense and still the arm around him had become. Brows furrowed, he glanced over at the enthusiastic woman. Her eyes stayed locked on the screen, her smile unchanged.

Kara nudged him and whispered, “That’s C-3PO. Isn’t he adorable?” She then reached over and scooped a heaping spoonful of Alex’s ice cream; giggling as her sister protested. She looked happy. He determined that he must be missing something because of his social inexperience, and left it be.

The story progressed, as did both Kara’s breathing rate and her production of sweat. The slow, minuscule changes would not have been detectable to a human, but they drew his eye once again. Leaving some of his focus on the movie, he studied her, and soon realized just how still she had become. Brainy had come to learn over the course of their friendship that Kara was quite the fidgeter, boundless energy and stimulation leaving her unable to keep still. Yet, other than her breathing, she never moved a muscle. Her wide smile stayed fixed in place despite all the other signals being conclusive with distress. A glance at her relaxed sister confirmed his assumption that this was not a common reaction to the movie.

Then the Death Star was turned on, and Kara stopped breathing entirely.

The planet exploded.

_Oh._

He finally understood the cause of her distress. Concern flooded him, but the smile on her face never wavered. It took a full ten minutes for her to start breathing once more, but the grin never darkened. She was exhibiting contradictory body language, and Brainy’s twelfth level intellect failed him. Unsure as to the correct course of action, he remained passive until the movie finished.

As soon as the credits rolled, both sisters turned to him, excited to see his reaction.

“So? What’d you think? It was good right? What did you think of Luke, Leia, and Han?”  Kara’s rapid-fire questions stunned him.

He stared at her, “Why do you pretend to like a movie that traumatizes you?”

Kara’s reaction was visceral. She reeled back in shock, bumping into a frozen Alex.

“What?!” Incredulous laughter filled the suffocated room, “Who thinks _Star Wars_ is traumatizing? It’s just a sci-fi movie!”

He studied her intently. Alex’s expression grew confused at the outburst.

“What makes you say that Brainy?” Her voice was low, contemplative.

He cocked his head, “She stayed unusually stiff throughout, her breathing erratic, with an exponential production of sweat. These are all symptoms of distress or fear, yet she smiled during all of it, never relaxing enough to even drop that. Why would seeing the destruction of a planet not make her subject to recall?”

Alex’s eyes had widened considerably as Brainy spoke, “Kara?” She turned to her sister, “but you love Star Wars.” She spent a moment deep in thought, before her head jerked up in shock, “Except for the first time, when you broke down.” It was like all the strength in her body fled suddenly, “I can’t believe I forgot about that.”

“No, no Alex. It’s not your fault.” Kara sighed, “It’s just so popular, you know?” Getting up, she started pacing in front of them, “Everyone knew about Star Wars! Everyone loved it, but then there was me; the sad little alien girl who couldn’t even watch it without breaking down.” Her voice was agitated, her true feelings bleeding into view.

Alex withdrew further into herself, “I’m the one that told you that you had to watch it, that it was weird you’d never seen it.” Her dejected expression returned to confused once more, “But, the next time we watched it, you didn’t even react. I thought it was just surprise the first time.”

“I practiced, watching it over and over in secret. I pushed myself to learn how to just get over it. I thought it was stupid that a fictional movie had that much power, “Kara grunted in frustration, “But it didn’t work! In fact, it did the opposite. I was forcing myself to relive the trauma repeatedly, keeping it fresh and harder to push aside. Eventually I switched tactics. I learned how to control my outward reactions, to look like I enjoyed it. You were my first test. Fooling you meant I could fool anyone.”

Brainy watched the conversation unfolding, his heart growing heavier and sadder the more that was revealed. _Kara._ Her mental process astounded him sometimes. She always seemed like the most lighthearted person in the room, but as he came to learn more about her, he discovered that the opposite was true. She put so much pressure on herself, on top of the weight she already had on her shoulders.

She continued, “We had already started creating Kara Danvers’ clumsy, geeky persona. And what geek doesn’t absolutely adore Star Wars.” Tears gathered in her eyes as she let all this stress out, for the first time in years.

Alex shot up and wrapped her into a tight hug as Kara started crying. She didn’t say anything, because there wasn’t really anything to be said. Kara was right, in a way. Brainy didn’t know what to do, but he hesitantly got up and wrapped his arms around the both of them as well.

“Uh, it’ll be alright,” he spoke as he patted their backs.

Kara’s sobs turned into a surprised gurgle as she giggled at his actions, “Thanks Querl. I’m alright. I guess I just needed to let that all out.”

They sat there a moment longer, when Alex spoke up, “Don’t think this means you’re getting any of my ice cream, sister.”


End file.
